![]() Located inside a local motel that was considered modern and trendy at the time it was built, the Sip 'n Dip is known for having people dressed as mermaids swimming underwater in an indoor swimming pool visible through a window in the bar. It has survived to the present day with its tiki theme intact. Saying goodbye to Alessandro, it occurs to me how travel, too, is like making the scarpetta: By dipping into the rich and tasty cultural treats of distant lands, and savoring them with the people who call those lands home, any traveler can “make the little shoe.The Sip 'n Dip Lounge is a tiki bar in Great Falls, Montana, US, opened in 1962, when Polynesian themes were popular. As darkness settles on Padua’s market square and the students head home for dinner, I finish off my spritz and dip a few last strips of bread into the olive oil. Whether you’re a faith-driven pilgrim or a free-spirited astronomer, Padua feeds your soul. A steady progression of pilgrims, who believe Anthony is their protector – a confidant and intercessor of the poor – shuffle past his ornate tomb, then his “uncorrupted tongue,” praying for help or giving thanks for miracles they believe he’s performed. Most of them ask for his help as the “finder of things,” from misplaced car keys to a life companion. Anthony, with his tomb and miraculously preserved tongue, has attracted pilgrims. For nearly 800 years, the Basilica of St. Anthony – patron saint of travelers, amputees, donkeys, pregnant women, barren women, flight attendants, and pig farmers – is buried here in Padua. Reservations are required ( At your appointed time, you enter an anteroom to watch a video before enjoying 15 minutes in Giotto’s unforgettable chapel. To protect the paintings from excess humidity, only 25 people are allowed inside the chapel at a time. ![]() Giotto placed real people in real scenes, expressing real human emotions. Finished in 1305, it’s considered by many to be the first piece of Renaissance art – a sign that Europe was breaking out of the Middle Ages. The glorious Scrovegni Chapel is wallpapered with Giotto’s beautifully preserved cycle of nearly 40 frescoes depicting scenes from the lives of Jesus and Mary. He says, “You make the scarpetta … we call it the ‘little shoe.’” As I yellow the tip of my bread in the oil, I see what he means. The guy next to me, Alessandro, seems right out of the Renaissance – with a billowing white blouse and an abundant head of long, curly hair. Taking my cue from others at the table, I rip my bread into a long strand, dip, and munch. ![]() ![]() Like them, I order my spritz “to go” (da portar via), and join the gang out on the piazza. Their drink of choice is a spritz, an apéritif made with a bitter alcoholic liqueur (Campari or Aperol), prosecco (or white wine), and soda, garnished with a bright orange wedge. Clustered around tall but tiny round tables – tipsy on the big, rough cobbles – they sip their drinks and dip bread in shallow dishes of plush olive oil. As if waiting to reclaim their square, students spill out of colorful bars – drinks in hand. ![]() At Padua’s Piazza delle Erbe, the market is closed, the merchants are gone, and shadows have replaced harsh sunlight. ![]()
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